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Friday, December 27, 2013

Transfers that did not happen, Part Five

1-
Republic of Ireland midfielder Roy Keane nearly joined Blackburn Rovers in the
summer of 1993 following Nottingham Forest’s relegation. However, he joined
Manchester United once he knew they were interested.

Photo
From: Soccer International, September
1993

(Roy Keane upon joining Manchester United)

2-
Gianluca Vialli joined Juventus in 1992, however he could have joined them
sooner in two previous occasions.

In
the summer of 1984, Cremeonse President Domenico Luzzara had offered him to
Juventus for 3 million Lira, but at the time Juventus’ Giampiero Boniperti
still had doubts in his ability. Therefore, Vialli joined Sampdoria.

In
1987, Juventus came calling with an offer of 10 Million Lira that was refused.

Photo
From: Calcio 2000, Issue 24, November
1999

(Gianluca Vialli as a Cremonese player deciding
his future in 1984 with Juventus and Sampdoria jerseys above him, he ended up
playing for both in his career)

3-
In March 1994, AC Milan’s out of favor French striker Jean-Pierre Papin had an
offer to join Tottenham Hotspur.

He
refused preferring to wait until the end of the season and then joined Bayern
Munich.

Photo
From: Onze-Mondial, January 1993

(Jean-Pierre Papin with AC Milan, 1992/93)

4-In
the summer of 1998, Following the World Cup, Manchester United’s Sir Alex
Ferguson attempted to sign Patrick Kluivert.

However,
Kluivert chose to rejoin his former coach Louis Van Gaal at Barcelona instead.

Photo
From: World Soccer, May 2000

(Barcelona’s Dutch striker Patrick Kluivert)

5-Denmark’s Michael Laudrup nearly joined
Liverpool in the summer of 1983. Apparently all was signed for a three year
contract. However, after some refelction Liverpool came back and offered the
same terms for a four year contract. Laudrup refused and instead joined
Juventus, who loaned him to Lazio for a couple of seasons.

Photo
From: Mondial, July 1986

(Denmark’s Michael Laudrup, to the left are
Scotland’s Gordon Strachan and Alex McLeisch, June 4, 1986, World Cup, Denmark
1-Scotland 0)

Vialli was again very close to Juventus in 1989, along with Mancini and Vierchowood. Mantovani, Sampdoria's owner, was about to quit football, but he later changed his mind. The transfer was featured on the covers of Guerin Sportivo and Gazzetta dello Sport. That was the closest call before the 1992 actual transfer.

I'm afraid I threw away the '89 collection a couple of relocations ago, but it was quite a summer for me. It was very close to complete.Here' a few links, for those willing to dive into italian.http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1989/07/07/mistero-sampdoria.htmlhttp://ilchiodiblog.wordpress.com/2011/06/04/storie-di-calciomercato-atto-ii/

And that's the cover I was talking about: "The Big Dream" (Il grande sogno).http://i.ebayimg.com/t/GUERIN-SPORTIVO-N-28-1989-LE-REGINE-DEUROPA-CABRINI-VIERCHOWOD-WIMBLEDON-/00/s/NDU3WDM2Mg==/$%28KGrHqZ,!k4E5bot1WruBOb6g!S!kw~~60_35.JPGBy the way, Boniperti managed to sign Schillaci, and without Mantovani's decision we would never have had The magic nights of Italia '90 and the wide open eyes of Totò scoring from every possible position in that world cup.

A brief summary for the non italian speaking audience: Juventus was struggling to compete against Inter, Milan and Napoli, and a team like Sampdoria was not thought to be capable of resisting the lure of Fiat's money. Mantovani, being a big oil tycoon, had that kind of money, though, and his decision not to give up on football in that summer of '89 led to Samp winning the cup winner's cup in 90, serie A in 91, and the champion's league final in '92. Then everything fall apart, Mancini stayed for a few season, and eventually they got relegated in the late '90s. Mantovani died and his sons managed to get Samp afloat, the sold the frachise to another oil tycoon, Garrone.

Remember that Mantovani already managed to sign Trevor Francis, Graeme Souness, and many italian youngsters that became Italian internationals years later. Without him, Samp would never have been a player in serie A (they already played there in previous decades but always finished in the lower parts of the table). Vialli's transfer had to happen, and despite his horrendous first couple of seasons (some injuries managed to stop his settling in Turin and with the teammates) he, being a leader and a fighter, managed to became the hero of the 94-95 league and 96 champion's league (he refused to kick the penalty in the final, fearing what would happen if he missed, after the huge disappointment of Wembley in '92).